Revealing Memory
by MissH-95
Summary: 2 girls have found a dead CPO in a lake in Virginia. The older of the two, might be the key to solving the case, but her memory is withholding. Whatever it is that her mind is blocking, it's important. Will her memory be revealed before it's too late?   No pairings yet, though I might give TIVA a try.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome onboard! This story popped into my head today, as I was out swimming x] (lol, you'll get the joke when you start reading!)**

**I've been catching up as much as I can with everybody else, watching the show online, (because where I live, we're 2 seasons behind... which sucks major ass - I apologize for the language) but I can't seem to get through season 4, because I _really_ don't like that Jeanne person (dunno know why, maybe it's just the same kind of hate I had for Hannah in the 6th season of Bones - I really didn't like her either).. Lol, so anyway, there won't be any spoilers in this story; at least there aren't any, yet.  
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**BEWARE: English isn't my native language, but I try my best. As for the locations in this story, many of them will be made up. I've tried to study a map intently, but it's just not the same you know? I will try and keep it as real as I can, but seeing as I've never even been to the States, I'll just have to go on what I do know. Bear with me please :)  
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**Oh, and this is the first time I let my imagination venture into the world of NCIS, and put that very same imagination into words. (If need be, here's a little translation of what I just said: This is the first NCIS fic I have ever written :P)**

**Pairings: Hmm, canon; but if I feel like it, I might throw in some TIVA :D **

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, I hate doing these, because really, if I owned NCIS I don't think I would be spending my time writing little fics about the very show I work on most of the time. If that makes sense... Point is: NO I don't own NCIS, YES it sucks, and NO there's nothing I can do about that.**

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><p>Laughter. Over the wind, you could clearly hear the two girls' delight at being together that day. It was warm outside, even as the sun hid behind some clouds on and off.<p>

The two girls aged 13 and 18; sisters actually, were by the lake, enjoying the warm weather.

Lake Barcroft, the lake they were swimming in, is a very, _very_ large lake in Virginia. The two girls lived in the town Baileys Crossroads, in Virginia, and it was not very far from the shore of the lake. The part of the lake they were at was fairly secluded, and only if you strained your ears, could you hear the faint sound of traffic.

It was around noon, and the older of the two sisters was eager to jump right into the lake. The younger sister was a bit more hesitant, seeing as she really couldn't stand seaweed.

Her big sister just laughed at her.

"If you have to be such a big baby, then I'll just go move it for ya." Louisa – the oldest – ruffled Catrina's – her smaller sister's – hair affectionately before she jumped back in and grabbed what little seaweed she could find.

But something felt wrong. It wasn't seaweed she had her hands wrapped around. It was too hard to be a plant. She swam back up to get some air, and inspect the object she had found. She had her back to her sister, when she took the first look at the mysterious item. It turned out not to be so mysterious after all.

Her brown eyes widened in fear and a terrified scream sounded. Catrina who had been standing on the wooden pier, chuckling at her sister's childish behavior, stopped laughing, knowing this wasn't fake. How many times hadn't Louisa pretended to drown, or laid down with her tongue sticking out her mouth like some cartoon character, pretending to be dead? She knew when her sister was joking, and this was definitely not a joke.

"What? What's the matter?" Louisa kept screaming. But for some reason she couldn't let go of the arm, the very _human_ arm she had in her hand.

With trembling hands, she finally loosened her grip on the decomposed limp, and frantically swam back toward the pier. Her foot got stuck in the weed, and she yanked at it, until it loosened from the ground, still wrapped around her food.

Catrina stood helplessly, not knowing what to do. She had no idea what had made Louisa so terrified, but she didn't like it. Louisa finally came up, and she didn't even bother to get her towel, she just frantically rubbed at her hand, as if it was infected.

She rubbed and rubbed, until her skin felt raw, before she realized that the seaweed was still wrapped around her foot. Another scream came from her throat as she followed the weed into the water with her eyes. Just under the surface of the lake, a pair of eyes stared right back at her. She whimpered and crawled backwards, not caring about splinters, not caring about anything at all. All she wanted was to get the hell away from that sight.

Catrina followed her sight, and felt suddenly felt sick to her stomach. She turned around, and vomited right into a small boat, that laid chained to the wooden pier.

Any other time, she would have laughed at the fact that the little rowboat was _chained_ to the pier, but right now, all she could see before her eyes was the image of the dead man, with the bloodshot, none-seeing eyes, and the blue, shredded material, that once was a uniform, of a Petty Officer.

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><p><strong>So basically, this was just the preface. :) It's right about now you should imagine the theme-song come on ;)<br>I wanted to know if anyone would find this interesting, before I continue. I would be very sad if I found out that I had wasted my time writing this :)**

**Please tell me what you thought of this little piece of my imagination.. :D**

**- Is **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi :) Here's the first chapter, and now that the theme-song is over, the team comes into the picture! :D Lol, I hope you enjoy.**

**DISCLAIMER: Nope, still not me who owns NCIS . . . **

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><p>Ziva David couldn't help but be a little shocked at how much the two girls standing shivering near the shore resembled her and her little sister Tali, when they were both young. The older one, Louisa, was trying to calm her babysister, by holding her close, and whispering soothing words into her ear. You could clearly see, that the smaller sister was the most shaken up.<p>

Ziva raised an eyebrow, at how calm Louisa was; it wasn't every day that a witness was this calm.

DiNozzo, Gibbs and McGee were already at the scene, setting up tape and taking photos. McGee was taking statement from the local LEO, DiNozzo was taking the pictures, and Gibbs was nowhere in sight. Ziva sighed at her boss' gift to just appear and disappear whenever. It was quite scary how he could just materialize right beside you, when you least expected it. The first couple of times it had happened to her, she had jumped 3 feet away from him, crouched down ready to attack. All Gibbs did was raise an eyebrow, and stare at her. Now she just startled a little everytime it happened.

That's why she wasn't too surprised when he started talking to her, as she stood viewing the crimescene.

"Ziva, I want you to take a statement from the girls, and get their prints too" he told her, as he waved Ducky and Palmer toward them. She nodded, and smiled as she heard Ducky saying the usual "I'm sorry Jethro, Mr. Palmer has an undeniable gift to always get us lost! Actually, he reminds me a bit of.." Ziva shook her head as Ducky started his typical ramblings, and thanked God that she was not the one who had to stop him this time.

She neared the girls, and saw the LEO's assistant flirting with Louisa. He was in his very early 20ies, but Louisa seemed disbelieving about the fact that he was actually flirting with her. Ziva chuckled lowly as she saw Louisa turn her back and roll her eyes.

"Ms.?" Officer David called out. It had taken a while to get used to the fact that she had to be so overly polite all the time. But as she saw Louisa react and smile in relief, she knew that sometimes, it was worth it.

"Please, don't call me Ms., the name is Louisa Jamerson." She smiled at Ziva, but her eyes seemed a little fearful; it was understandable. But something about the fear was off; it was as if it wasn't this particular crimescene that set her off, but something else entirely.

"Louisa. I'm Officer Ziva David, I'm with the NCIS" Louisa didn't look the least bit confused about the name.

"Officer David. I assume that you're here to get my prints, right? Since I did touch things around the crimescene" She fascinated Ziva a little. She was brave and calm, even though Ziva had the impression it was mostly for her younger sister, so she wouldn't be so scared. Catrina was still shivering; tears were streaming down her face.

Ziva flashed back to a day many years ago, when Tali had come home, shivering and crying, because she had been out in the cold for a long time, searching for her dog. Ziva shook her head, and guided them toward their truck.

"I think we have some warm cocoa in here. Would you like some?" Catrina nodded, reaching out for the cup with a trembling hand.

Louisa looked at her younger sister, wishing she had gone to swim alone today. Then she wouldn't have seen the terrifying sight. Louisa knew how it was going to affect her sister's life; she wasn't the crime-buff Louisa was herself. Sitting down, Louisa pulled Catrina into her arms, and let her head rest on her shoulder, as she started crying again.

"Officer David, maybe we should wait with her statement a little while. I know it's best now that her memory is still fresh, but I don't think she will forget what she saw in the near future" Ziva nodded her head, looking at the vulnerable girl.

"Maybe we should just start with the basics? Since you found the victim, there might be follow-up questions, you can answer, once we ID him" Louisa nodded.

"Okay, fire away" Ziva reached for her standard issue Sig, whirled around, pointing it at a startled assistant to the local Chief of Police. Behind her, she could hear Louisa laugh, and Catrina letting out a small chuckle through her tears, followed by a hiccup.

"I meant that you could just ask me. Sorry, I should've been a little more precise. _Ask_ away, Officer." Louisa was still chuckling, and it felt good.

Ziva David didn't even bother to apologize to the young man, who looked to be about to pee his pants.

"Oh. I am not very good with American idioms. Okay, your full names, please?" She could faintly hear Tony laugh, and she was sure that she would hear about that one later. But it felt good to know that the young girls had laughed, that they would get over it. Especially Catrina.

As she questioned the Jamerson sisters, she saw Catrina relax, and knew now would be as good a time as any.

"Can you describe what happened?" Louisa hesitated for a small second, looking down to see her sister nod, indicating she was ready to get it over with.

"We were down swimming, but Catrina wouldn't jump in. She hates seaweed, so I jumped in to remove it for her. I got a hold of the man's arm, but I had no idea what it was that I had grabbed. I swam with me eyes closed. Uhm.. Then I went up for air, and I was curious, so I took the arm with me," she paused shivering, "As soon as I saw what I had in my hand, I screamed and started swimming back towards the pier." She pointed, even though it wasn't necessary.

"We had been joking around, and I was laughing at Louisa's antics, when she started screaming. I had no idea what she was so terrified about, but she just kept screaming. When she frantically started swimming back towards me, I knew something was wrong. When she got up, she started rubbing her hand, like there was something on it she just wanted away. Then she froze, and followed the seaweed that was stuck to her foot, with her eyes. Then she started screaming again."

Louisa nodded, holding her sister even closer as she spoke.

"My foot got stuck when I was swimming back. I yanked at the seaweed, but it was still stuck, and so I just swam back with it. Apparently, the man was stuck in the weed as well, because he was floating around the surface, with the seaweed all around him." Louisa had closed her eyes, and a single tear was falling down her cheek. Catrina looked to her sister, and continued the story.

"She started crawling backwards, but I didn't understand, so I followed her sight, and I saw.. I saw," Ziva took her hand in hers, and squeezed.

"It is okay, you do not have to tell me more." Catrina looked at her, terror clear in her eyes.

"I have to." Ziva nodded, and waited for her to continue with the traumatizing events.

"I saw the man, and I saw the uniform. I knew he was with the Navy, 'cause our father is as well. Uhm, I got sick, and vomited into the little boat. Sorry about that." She blushed, and Louisa brushed away her hair from her face, saying it was okay.

"We called the police, and said they should call you guys, 'cause it was a Marine an all."

Ziva was impressed with the amount of details about the finding she had gotten out of those two.

"Thank you, you have been very helpful. If we could just get your fingerprints, so that we can exclude them from our investigation." Both girls nodded, and they looked at each other.

"Can you call our mom?" Catrina whispered. Ziva smiled and was about to answer, when Tony came up behind her and said they already had.

Catrina nodded and laid her head on her sisters shoulder again. Not long after you could hear faint snores, and Louisa smiled as her sister slept.

"Hi, I'm Louisa Jamerson." She stuck her hand out to Tony, and he shook it.

"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, you can call me Tony." Ziva looked at Tony, expecting him to start flirting with the young girl; after all, she was 18, but instead she saw an almost brotherly care in his eyes has he watched the two of them.

Louisa was leaning against the cabinets, and her eyes were drooping. With a sigh, the day's events took its final toll on her, and she fell asleep, only to be woken not long after by their frantic mother.

As she embraced them both, and they tried to reassure her that they were fine, a little shaken up but fine, Ducky came up to the truck. Ziva realized with a start that Gibbs was right beside her, watching the girls intently, and Ducky was about to report to him. Tony stood beside Ziva, with the camera around his neck, listening to what Ducky had to say. McGee was still bagging and tagging at the crimescene.

"Cause of death is still undetermined, but I have ruled out drowning. This was not the original crimescene. I will know more when we get him back to autopsy. I had Mr. Palmer take some water samples and some from the seaweed the young man was so caught up in, and we're taking them back to Abby. Do you remember the last time we had a scene like this? Though, it was a young girl back then, and she-"

"Duck. Do we have a DOD?" Louisa was giggling as she watched the two older men communicate. It was clear that they had this kind of conversation often.

"Well, with the level of decomposition, I would say that this poor fella has been lying in the water for about a week."

Out of the corner of his eye, Gibbs saw Louisa stiffen. Frowning, he asked her to come with him, away from her mother and sister.  
>"Is there something bothering you, Ms. Jamerson?" Louisa nodded, and sat down on a small log.<p>

"It's the time of death that bugs me." She answered lowly. She put her head in her hands, and her shoulders started shaking.

"About a week ago, I was out with my two best friends. We were out eating, and watching a late movie. We weren't drunk or anything!" Gibbs just smiled that 'what-his-agents-think-is-rare' crooked smile.

"Mona and Samantha are neighbors, and they live on the other side of the road. It was Sam's turn to drive, but as the movie-theater is closer to my place than theirs, I said they should just drive home, I would walk. I've done it loads of times before, so it was no biggie. I came to an alley, but from there, my memory is just blank. I didn't understand anything, when I woke up in my bed the next morning, but I shrugged it off, thinking it was probably just because it was dark, and I was in my own little world. I uhm, I'm writing a book you see. So I was probably going through some ideas in my head. But when I saw the CPO in the water, I got a flash of an argument. I didn't say anything to Officer David, because my sister was right beside me, and I didn't want to scare her." Gibbs nodded, putting an arm around her.

"How did you know it was a Chief Petty Officer?" Louisa smiled through her tears.

"I saw the stripes on his arm. My dad had the same. Oh God, I can't believe this!"

"It's okay, Louisa. But with what you just told me, you might be the key to solving this case. You'll have to come back to DC with us." She looked up at him, and nodded.

"I'll do whatever I can to help. It could have been one of my dad's friends, or maybe even my dad. Nobody deserves to die like that. Murdered." Louisa leaned on Gibbs' shoulder and cried her last tears out.

Gibbs just _knew_ this case was going to be tough.

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><p><strong>Please, leave me a little thought? :D<strong>

**- Is**


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